Well, June 6 is a huge day in history, so I’ve chosen to post about two events today that were crucial to history in the United States. This is the first of two posts, and it concerns Operation Overlord and World War 2. Operation Overlord was the code name for the American landing at Normandy […]
Category: European History
The Origins of Witchcraft and Valdés of Lyon
Part of the origins of witchcraft lie with the man we know as Valdés of Lyon. Valdés lived in France in the twelfth century and was an itinerant preacher who lived a life of holy simplicity. His name also has a connection to the origin of the term “witch” and so is part of the […]
Urban II Preaches the First Crusade
We’re going back a way today, but on this day in 1095 CE, Pope Urban II made a speech at the Council of Clermont calling for a great crusade to Palestine. The goal of this crusade would be for European Christians to win back locations important to Christianity that were under the control of the […]
Juan Sebastian de Elcano Reaches Spain in 1522
One of the great nautical feats of all time was the circumnavigation of the globe by the Ferdinand Magellan expedition. It left port in Spain in 1519, returning to Spain (without Magellan, who died en route) in 1522 under the leadership of a Basque mariner named Juan Sebastian de Elcano. Of the five ships and […]
Romanian Fascism and Its Synthesis
Although Italian fascism is the second most studied form of fascism, I’m personally very interested in fascism’s Romanian variant. While lacking some of the aspects of fascism in other nations presented in this series of blog posts, Romanian fascism mimics others in particularly intense forms. Beliefs of Romanian Fascism One of these was its focus […]
What German Fascism Adds to the Witch’s Brew
German fascism is the most notorious of all for its destructive actions, and rightly so. It is time, then, to examine what Germany added to the basic beliefs of fascism described in my last blog. Heading the list is the idea of scapegoating enemies for the problems of society. Of course, Jewish people headed this […]